Review Dracula’s Child – J.S. Barnes

Dracula returns…

It has been some years since Jonathan and Mina Harker survived their ordeal in Transylvania and, vanquishing Count Dracula, returned to England to try and live ordinary lives. But shadows linger long in this world of blood feud and superstition – and, the older their son Quincy gets, the deeper the shadows that lengthen at the heart of the Harkers’ marriage. Jonathan has turned back to drink; Mina finds herself isolated inside the confines of her own family; Quincy himself struggles to live up to a family of such high renown. And when a gathering of old friends leads to unexpected tragedy, the very particular wounds in the heart of the Harkers’ marriage are about to be exposed…

I made The Husband listen to Dracula with me in October. And we weren’t too happy with it. Although it has Great moments, they are lost between boredom and characters that make you puke in your mouth with their perfection. So obviously I made him listen to this ‘sequel’ as well! (I did receive an ecopy through Netgalley, but also picked up the audiobook).

And I have to say, I liked it. It definitely has its flaws; the concept was really far fetched and the characters are (still) idiots. But otherwise, Barnes has done a great job.

This does very much read like a sequel to the original. The writing style and atmosphere have been captured perfectly! But at the same time it is a lot more accessible to a modern audience. Although it is also a slow burn it feels like there is more action, the stakes are higher and the whole plot is ‘bigger’. The characters are given more depth. Quincy is the perfect amount of disturbing (think of the kids in The Haunting of Bly Manor). There is a gay ‘romance’, one of the characters is an alcoholic, another isn’t ready to become a mother and has massive mental struggles.

Barnes took on an ambitious job with this, and he absolutely nailed it. This won’t be for everyone. You definitely need to be in the mood for it, and you need to have read, and appreciated, the original. But if you do, and you want more… this book really does Stoker’s Dracula justice.